FREE Writing Practice

Melissa Bell-Pitts

Melissa Bell-Pitts writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and lives in Lexington, KY. Her fiction has appeared in the anthology New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings, Limestone and other journals. Her nonfiction appeared in I to I: Life Writing by Kentucky Feminists. Her fiction and poetry were selected as finalists in the Next Great Writer’s Contest and her nonfiction was a finalist in the Betty Gabehart Prize from the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. She has a Master’s degree in fine arts from Vermont College and a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Kentucky.

This practice offers writers the opportunity to engage in a creative and communicative loop without judgment. We will write from a variety of prompts designed to get writers to loosen their inner censor and simply get words on the page during two or three short sessions. After each timed session, writers read aloud their new work to the other participating members who respond by recalling words or images that resonated. This zenlike practice originated in Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. [ALL LEVELS]